It was entirely predictable. After the comprehensive annihilation dished out to the Liberals over the weekend and the demise of its leader, three “bloke” ex-premiers toss in their penny’s worth and nominate a “Sheila”, Sussan Ley, to take on this poisoned chalice of a job (“Ley gets backing from party elders,” May 8). As the task of regaining about 25 seats in three years will prove insurmountable, she will, of course, fail. Deemed a failure, despite regaining some seats, she will then be sacked and another “bloke” will be tapped on the shoulder. My advice? Don’t accept this job offer, Suss. It’s not a promotion. Bill Young, Killcare Heights
Former opposition leader Peter Dutton and deputy leader Sussan Ley.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor are equally unelectable (“Dutton flies in to say goodbye as Ley gets backing”, May 8). Ley is tainted by her close association with Dutton, while Taylor will always be that failed opposition treasurer. Either one would be a gift to Labor. They lack voter appeal and would likely be replaced before the next election. After the depressing years of Abbott, Morrison and Dutton, the Liberals need a leader with integrity, vision, positivity and a willingness to develop valid policies. We’ve had enough of the self-promotion and lip service to climate change. The Liberals need to get real or get out of the way. Graham Lum, North Rocks
Suss or Gus? Yep. The Libs have hit rock bottom. Rob Mills, Riverview
Good government needs an opposition capable of understanding which policies to support for better outcomes overall and which to oppose; how to negotiate and how to compromise; most of all, how to energise itself again and maintain that energy. Neither of the two current contenders strike me as even remotely capable of filling that role. Kristina Vingis, Church Point
Truly depressing to see the “battle” for Liberal leadership is confined to mundane people wedded to the past. Our democracy deserves a vibrant Opposition, and these folks just don’t cut it. There seems to be not a glimmer of understanding of the emerging political realities following the decade ago calamitous reign of Tony Abbott. Wake up. It’s time for a new start – and the right people exist. Senator James Paterson for one. Get on with it. Brian Haisman, Winmalee
The Liberal Party must rue the day that they rejected Julie Bishop as leader and chose one lacklustre male leader after another. Julie Bishop was a world respected foreign minister, erudite, intelligent and representing over 50 per cent of voters. How blind they were. How out of touch they are. As a former pre-selector, I saw factions and sexism destroy many a good candidate. Unless there are major reforms, the Liberals will be consigned to history. Kathie Barnes, Nelson Bay
With the Coalition seriously diminished, now might be a good time to introduce four-year terms federally, given that Labor is expected to be sitting pretty in three or four years’ time while the opposition will still be blaming Labor, rather than their own misguided policies, and will therefore hardly be in a position to win the next election. Christine Shale, Mosman
Liberal Party leadership candidates Angus Taylor and Sussan Ley.Credit: Eamon Gallagher, James Brickwood
Surely the leftover Liberals are going too far in considering Sussan Ley as their leader. Just because she has ministerial and cabinet experience, holds a commercial pilot’s licence and owns an aircraft, doesn’t mean she can herd dinosaurs. Peter Skinner, Beecroft
Shaun Carney’s article reveals a party in total disarray (“Dutton captained a ship of fools – and they let him sink it,” May 8). They knew their choice of Dutton was a gamble. His indecisiveness and negativity was ultimately their undoing. Now they are faced with a decision of whom they replaced him with from a small, mediocre team remaining from the sinking ship. The new captain will, most likely, be a short-term position. They desperately need new blood to have any long-term hope of success. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach
The conservatives won’t change their ways. In their minds they didn’t get it wrong, the electorate did. Conservatives think they are always right, hence the saying “you can always tell a Conservative, but you can’t tell them much.” Michael Deeth, Como West
Greens missed the memo
It was foolish of the Greens to portray themselves as the kingmakers in the lead-up to the election (“Greens leader Adam Bandt set to lose seat of Melbourne,” May 8). It played into the fear campaign of the Coalition, while reminding voters of the mess the Greens made of the Gillard government’s carbon agenda and their stubborn refusal to support Anthony Albanese’s housing policy. Australians who care about the environment, social justice and world peace also want parties who can work together to achieve outcomes, not just continually posture and provoke. Philip Cooney, Wentworth Falls
David Crowe is wrong to claim the Greens share responsibility for failing to pass the law to set up Environment Protection Australia (“The Greens bet on Gaza and may have lost the House,” May 8). They had come to an agreement with Tanya Plibersek but were overridden by Anthony Albanese acting on behalf of Western Australian mining interests. Graeme Finn, Campsie
Greens leader Adam Bandt is likely to lose his seat.Credit: Wayne Taylor
I think there are a few older Australians who vote like I do – Labor in the House of Representatives and Greens in the Senate. The reason for this is the need for action on the environment and climate change. The Greens should not be “blockers” but a party that helps Labor towards a quicker and better response to the climate emergency. And that’s through negotiation and compromise. Bob Brown caused great angst when he rejected Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme and gave us Tony Abbott and years of climate wars. Adam Bandt had forgotten this lesson. They are now a last-chance party, so hopefully the new leadership understands the brief. Wendy Atkins, Cooks Hill
The PM’s attack on Adam Bandt, telling him he should look in the mirror, is a sad day for Labor. Albanese’s “hate” of the Greens has been well documented and now, even with Labor’s astounding number of seats, he just couldn’t hold back on his authoritarian language and have a dig at the Greens leader. Albanese lost some dignity by stooping to this level, especially after being soft on Dutton when he lost his seat. To me, it suggests Albanese will go to great lengths not to negotiate with the Greens in the Senate, leaving him the choice of negotiating with the Coalition, a choice many Labor supporters will be unhappy about, I suspect. Jacqui Keats, Black Head
The Greens have been mightily punished for speaking truth to power, in calling for strong government action on the climate catastrophe, the housing crisis, and the Gaza genocide (the UN’s description, not just mine). Seems we would rather just stay “relaxed and comfortable”. Tony Ilott, East Hills
Fishy politics
Labor’s landslide victory in Tasmania certainly does not endorse its questionable support for the fishy business of the commercial salmon industry (“Labor romped home in Tassie. The PM’s salmon move worked”, May 6). Recent polling shows that 59 per cent of Tasmanians are concerned about the environmental and health harm caused by industrial salmon farming. And, as Bianca Hall reports, anti-salmon MP Andrew Wilkie romped to victory in the Clark electorate, while fellow independent and salmon critic Peter George pushed Labor’s Fisheries Minister Julie Collins in Franklin. Most Tasmanians like myself care deeply about the environment. The swing to Labor is, arguably, more of a rejection of the Coalition’s complete irresponsibility on climate change and the environment than an endorsement of Labor’s murky environmental plans. Sharee McCammon, Tasmania
Gaza tragedy must stop
With Labor’s emphatic victory, I look forward to greater action in areas of climate, the environment and human rights to create a better, fairer Australia for everyone no matter their gender, religion or background. Sadly, at this time I must also beg the government to do more about the situation in Gaza. Every time I think it can’t get worse, it does. The starvation of millions of people, the continued bombing and attacks on civilians and the plans to move everyone out of Gaza must be stopped. If the US won’t act, then the rest of the world, including Australia, must apply all possible pressure including ceasing all diplomatic, cultural, trade and sporting ties with Israel and banning the direct and indirect export of weapons and weapons components. We can’t rely on words any more, we must act. Robyne Stacey, Moruya
Credit: Cathy Wilcox
Roger Shanahan shows us Netanyahu’s military action in Gaza cannot be justified as a means of getting hostages returned (“Israeli offensive risks enmeshing troops in ‘forever war’,” May 8). Only eight of the 147 returned hostages were rescued by military action. The other 139 were rescued as a result of negotiations. Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s priority appears to be the destruction of Hamas rather than the return of hostages. He has no realistic post-conflict plan. Anything less than a two- state solution guarantees a forever war. Mark Porter, New Lampton
Teachers know better
Wow, $45 million from the NSW Education Department to provide online education services for five years (“Selective test chaos gives parents tough calls to make,” May 8). Just another case of the privatisation of jobs that clearly was not worth it. Selective high schools and opportunity class tests have been around for many years. Yes, there are always a few challenges, but nothing sensible school teachers can’t manage. How stressful for students and parents travelling all over Sydney and how much more will the resitting of the test cost? Ask teachers – they will fix this financial and logistical nightmare. Lisa Williams, Dulwich Hill
It’s not just the maths, English, economics, physics and chemistry courses that are seeing fewer enrolments. The study of foreign languages is all but dead in most public high schools. There were more candidates in French alone in the 1970 HSC than in all languages last year, despite the total candidature being less than one-third of last year’s. As a teacher, the decline looks irreversible because today’s students seem to lack the intellectual stamina and attention span required by these more demanding subjects. Ryszard Linkiewicz, Woolooware
No negatives
The removal of negative gearing with a change to the capital gains tax is not a panacea for housing costs on its own but is essential. It cannot be left by the ALP to a future term. Now that we have a parliament where it could be passed in the lower house with ease and with less political risk than in 2019, it is time for bipartisanship in the Senate. Political risk would be minimised if the change in policy was limited to future home purchases by investors. Young Australians would benefit immensely, a sense of unity would replace division between the haves and the have-nots, and investment in industry and productivity would boost our economy. It is time for the Greens to renege on their political intransigence and while the Liberal Party is unlikely to ever approve, it would engender support for the party from young voters. What’s not to like? Liz Adams, Kareela
Cut price
By all measures, for 40 years I’ve been receiving the “full experience” from my hairdresser, Christine at a far lesser cost than $750 a visit. Maybe that’s why I’m still a loyal customer (“A haircut that costs $750: The truth about pricey beauty treatments,” May 8). Salle-Ann Ehms, Glebe
A haircut can cost as much as $750 in Sydney.Credit: iStock
Game over
Bridge players are very familiar with the terms “deal” and “trump”, and of recent times have become politically aware world citizens. I wonder whether the fact that “no trumps” is the strongest hand in bridge might point to a promising outcome before 2029. David Griffiths, Wollongong
Desperate measures
Peter Fyfe (Letters, May 8) asks “How big is an elephant?” so I prayed to Saint Barbara, patron saint of engineers and tunnellers. She said “it depends – Asian or African?” Turns out that 30,000 Asian elephants equals 12.5 soccer fields, whereas 30,000 African elephants equals 19 soccer fields. Saint Barbara has now punted it to Saint Francis Xavier, patron saint of Asia, and Saint Josephine Bakhita of Africa, to make a final decision. Peter, it now depends on divine delegation (“Big enough for 30,000 elephants, major Sydney metro station reaches milestone,” May 7). Vivien Clark- Ferraino, Duckmaloi
275,000 moderately sized dogs? Come on. I recall that John Lennon’s immortal lyric “now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall” was inspired by a similarly absurd comparison. So, while I appreciate the desire to enable people to visualise a space, how about something like 100,000 underpaid nurses, 200,000 safe places for at-risk children, or even 300 NSW state election campaigns’ worth of hot air? Michael Thompson, Bexley North
No mention of the Metro West’s escalating costs in your Hunter Street station story. Is this the 30-thousand elephants in the room, er, cavern? Richard Mason, Newtown
The SUMU to watch, Peter Fyfe, is when volumes of water are compared with the water in Sydney Harbour. Few people realise just how shallow most of the harbour is. Randi Svensen, Wyong
Bad timing – just after Taronga Zoo ships out its last two elephants to South Australia, Sydney acquires a space large enough to house 30,000 of the creatures. Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills
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